One Nation MP fishes for snapper amid strict ban
One Nation’s new Yorke Peninsula MP has posted a video of herself fishing for snapper as she calls for a ban imposed on the Spencer Gulf to be immediately lifted.
One Nation’s member for Narungga Chantelle Thomas has uploaded a video of her catching and releasing snapper in Spencer Gulf waters amid a total ban.
A video posted on Facebook has Thomas saying she was throwing in a line to “show how much snapper there is” on Thursday night, the video showing Thomas reeling in multiple small snapper fish and then throwing them back into the water whilst fishing in a boat in Wallaroo.
“We’ve just launched off the Wallaroo boat ramp, I’m going to show the current government how much snapper is out here,” Thomas said in the video.
“It’s time to lift the ban so we can boost our local economy, and businesses no longer have to suffer.”
Thomas can be seen catching multiple snapper fish before throwing them back into the ocean.
“We’ve got a double hookup of snapper here, and what was that? There’s no snapper in the ocean? Here you go, here’s your evidence,” she said.
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Snapper fishing has been banned on the state’s West Coast, Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf since 2019, with restrictions extended until June 2027 amid the harmful algal bloom outbreak last year.
The ban was initially introduced in 2019 by PIRSA to help snapper stocks recover after scientific data showed numbers were falling due to over fishing, with fees and penalties in place for breaching the ban.
Snapper stocks are classified as depleted, and fishing on these stocks remains closed in the West Coast and Spencer Gulf fishing zones, Gulf St Vincent and Kangaroo Island fishing zones, according to the Primary Industries and Regions website.
“Snapper may only be taken in the South-East fishing zone until 30 June 2026,” it said.
Kyri Toumazos, who is executive director of industry peak body Seafood Industry South Australia, said the commercial sector did not support “catching and releasing fish”.
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“The catch and release of a species that we’re trying to rebuild is not something that we support,” he said.
Toumazos said commercial fishers were supportive of science-based decisions, including the ban on snapper fishing for another 12 months.
“We try extremely hard to avoid any interactions with the snapper fishery,” he said.
“As commercial sector, we avoid areas where we see snapper because obviously, any interaction with snapper might have some negative impacts on stock, so we are not supportive of reopening the fishery until the science supports that decision.”
Thomas declined to comment as did the Liberal Party when contacted.
The fishing video follows recent reports that a second algal bloom wave could move through the Spencer Gulf in the next few months.
Comments below include support for the ban to be lifted, one person saying “well done for getting in and proving them wrong” and another commenting “so much snapper that they left us no squid”.
The Spencer Gulf has faced a number of fishing restrictions in the area amid the algal bloom, with the state government announcing in April that Southern Calamari fishing restrictions would be extended across the Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf.
Greens MLC Melanie Selwood said “it’s shocking to see One Nation disregarding the needs of our environment”.
“We have to allow our marine life to recover after the algal bloom,” Selwood said.
“Just because the snapper are there, doesn’t mean we should be fishing them. If we want our snapper to be there in the future, we need to give them time to recover.”
Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven and PIRSA were contacted for comment.
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